This Gold Investment Hasn’t Lost a Dime Since February

By Brendan Conway

If you pay even the slightest attention to the price of gold, you’re aware of the “haven” metal’s nearly 15% selloff during 2013. You may not be aware of a gold tracker whose price has barely budged since February.

There’s a twist. The $63 million RBS Gold Trendpilot exchange-traded note (TBAR) is built to track the price of gold — but only up to a point. Once its index deems a “negative” trend in gold’s price is in place, the ETN’s returns switch to three-month Treasury bills.

Associated Press

The gold-to-Treasury bills ETN is going on four months reflecting just T bills. Thus it fetches $28.01, or eight cents’ difference from its Feb. 20 close at $28.09.

TBAR is still down 5% for 2013. But that loss compares favorably to the 15% drop in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). In the precious-metals closed end funds Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) and Central Fund of Canada (CEF), investors are down 17% and 23%, respectively.

About Focus on Funds

As exchange-traded funds and other investing vehicles have ballooned in number, the task of figuring out what works well and what doesn’t has only gotten harder. Barrons.com’s Focus on Funds looks under the hood of ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds for overlooked values, actionable ideas and the latest pitfalls for fund investors.

Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.